Dancing with the Devil
by Mirabelle Aurea
Summary: "Once upon a time, there was a little girl. The Little Girl lived in a Big City, in a neighborhood called Brooklyn, in a tiny apartment, with Mother and Father." Or, how Aislin Rose, a young woman with a gift, met a vigilante at the begnning of his career. They were loners, they wouldn't be anymore. Cover art by the awesome Molotovsoul on Tumblr.


**Prologue: Once Upon A Time.**

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. The Little Girl lived in a Big City, in a neighborhood called Brooklyn, in a tiny apartment, with Mother and Father. They had known each other for a long time, and they felt in love when they were still young. Father loved protecting people, so he was a soldier first, and Mother wanted to be a scientist. When the Little Girl showed up, she was unexpected, and Father decided to stay close to his family and became a police officer. And Mother, while she was taking care of the Little Girl, kept studying.

The Little Girl grew up in a loving family. She was on Mother's lap when she was reading her books or writing a paper, she followed Father everywhere when he was at home, playing with his uniform. God, she loved the color of it. And Mother and Father really loved their little girl, they loved the way she laughed, her coppery locks, her green eyes, the same color as Father's. As she grew up, she learnt a lot of things, she loved to dance, she loved to watch Father cooking and Mother writing.

But, when she was six, the Little Girl disappeared. Nobody could find her, nowhere. Father searched and searched, and searched, and screamed at people, calling them incompetents and careless. And Mother, cried, and cried, and worked harder and harder to forget her pain. But nobody could find the Little Girl. So, six years after the day she vanished, they build a grave for the Little Girl, and Mother and Father and Little Brother mourned her and put flowers on the empty casket.

And nobody never knew where the Little Girl disappeared and if she was still alive or dead. And the grave was empty, and Father always believed that the Little Girl was somewhere.

Eventually, many, many years later, the Little Girl found her way back to the Big City. But she couldn't remember neither where she had lived before, nor Father or Mother. She had a new family, a new name, a new life.

And she was really pissed off right now.

 **XXX**

Aislin Rose tried to keep her cool, but failed. She was looming behind a container, some feet away from her, four guys who were bullying four women terrorized and in a bad shape. One of them was the granddaughter of her client, Heather. And damn, with the distance and the lack of light, she was unable to say which one she was. She chewed her lower lip and closed her hands when one of the guy used his taser against one of the girl and pushed them in a container.

"No… no!"

She was running out of time and out of options here. The four guys were armed, well for three of them, it was sure, the last one had his ass in a chair and was eating a burger. Anyway, the odds were against her. In other circumstances, she'd tried to talk to the guys, playing dumb, diverting their attention while she found a way to neutralize them. Or she'd tried to punch her way. But tonight… it was a night off. She was tired. She had been looking for Heather for two days now, racing against the clock once she'd understood that she was one of the victim of a flourishing new market in this shit hole called Hell's Kitchen ( _And, really? Couldn't have come with a name more ominous? Was the Mouth of Hell or the Purgatory already taken? Guys, the nearest place was called the Village… The Village! See? Anyway…_ ): human trafficking ( _applause in the background please_ ).

She had slept a little, and she was feeling the beginning of a hell of a headache. Three armed guys were a bit too much on her plate right now, and calling the police was not an option. The time for them to arrive, the container would already be on board one of the boats nearby and out of reach. So… when plan A (being diplomat) and plan B (being rude) are deemed to fail, use plan C. And Aislin always tried not to use plan C. Because plan C involved something she preferred to keep under a big rock. A very heavy big rock. But right now? There was an emergency, so… go for plan C.

She carefully put the hood of her jacket on her head. She loved that jacket: sweet, warm, black, with a nice purple pattern on the back, and, yes, a hood. Useful when you wanted to hide your face. She breathed and started to murmur under her breath, visualizing what she needed to scatter the three men in one motion. She slowly reached the van parked in front of her and used its back door as a cover. In her mind, small tendrils started to assemble themselves and, around her, the street lamps on the docks flickered. And then, the women screamed and she lost her concentration, swearing.

"The Hell?"

Somebody was crouched on top of one of the containers. The guy jumped in the middle of the three thugs and began to beat the living shit out of them. All in black, something on his head, he was doing some very impressive stunts. And, well… he seemed very dedicated to his task, so she decided not to interrupt him. In less than a minute, the three guys were on the ground, unconscious. The man froze and slowly turned in her direction. For a second, Ash thought he was about to attack her and she opened her mouth to explain him that she was one of the good ones. A movement caught her eyes, and she saw Number One (a black guy in a leather jacket) grabbing a gun and aiming at the other one.

"Watch out!"

She was sure that nobody could do what the guy in black just had done in front of her. Well, no human being. No _normal_ human being. She could divert a bullet or two, shield herself for a brief moment. She wasn't a _normal_ human being. That was a pretty handy trick. But him? He dodged the bullets and just disappeared amongst the containers in a pretty convincing imitation of a cat (or a ninja), Number One on his tail. Aislin stood here for a moment, her mouth agape, and she blinked at the empty space, confused. Regaining her bearings, she saw her cue for trying to help the women. She made her way to the container and froze. The fourth man was still on his chair, his burger midway in the air, looking at her with huge eyes. She had forgotten him and she facepalmed mentally. She waved at him awkwardly, he waved back. She swore and waved one more time. On the other side of the pier, Number Four gasped as his chair switched backwards and he ended in the Hudson. Ash hoped he could swim.

Number Two and Number Three were still unconscious on the ground, and Number One and the guy in black were still playing hide and seek. She reached the container and gave a quick look in it. The four women were terrified, clinging at each other, eyes huge with terror. Ash pulled her hood back and smiled.

"Heather Lantam? One of you's Heather?"

A blond woman nodded, murmuring a weak "me".

"Good, your grandmother hired me. Time to get back home. You too mis…"

"Who the Hell are you?!"

Ash swirled and faced Number One and the end of his gun.

"Shit?"

She was saved by his taser, coming out of nowhere and hitting him straight in the head, sending him eating some dirt on the ground.

The mysterious man in black emerged from the maze of the containers and slowly made his way to her. He paused a foot or two in front of her and they stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence. Well, Ash thought he was staring at her, because the cloth on his head was covering his eyes and his nose. But she had a clear view of a square jaw, that was nervously clenching, and his mouth, a thin line. And he was strangely tilting his head on the side, as if he was listening to something. All in his stance screamed that he was on his guard, ready to fight. And Ash wasn't in the mood tonight. She sighed and held her hands up.

"Am here to help. See? No weapon, just little old me."

"Who are you?" The voice was low, almost a growl, menacing.

"How could you see anything with that on your face?" There were no holes in the cloth. And she was too tired to search for a better answer.

Her question caught the guy off guard. He recoiled from her, and the part of his face that she could see crunched in a weird way. He was confused, probably frowning and wrinkling his nose. _Cute… Shut up brain!_ He looked at her, mouth open, and obviously shocked. She sighed.

"Listen… I've been hired to find one of those women. Found her, and her friends too. Great. Thanks for the help by the way. Nice… technic. Now, I take her back to her family, and the others too. Call it a package. You're welcome."

The guy quickly regained his composure and closed the gap between them, some inches in front of her.

"You know where the police station is?" He spoke slowly.

"Yeah."

"Good… stick to the street lamps, speak to the first officer you'll see."

Aislin blinked. Did he really just…

"Are you…?"

He cut her by punching the metal door near her and yelling "now!"

Behind her, the women jumped on her feet and started fleeing, but Ash only yelled back, stepping forward.

"No need to yell at us, idiot!"

Number One decided that it was the moment to try to shoot at the man again. And…yep, foresaid man just done another amazing stunt as he dodged a bullet… _again_. Number One would regret it soon, as the other man started to punch him repetitively. What a wonderful example of anger issue. Without waiting for more, Ash joined the four women and urged them to the street. Ten minutes later, they were all safe and sound at the precinct, and Aislin gave a quick call to Heather's grandma. She also made a mental note to seek for the dead body of a thug the next morning in the news just in case.

 **XXX**

"So, Miss…?"

The detective looked at her, one eyebrow raised, a pen in hand, a recorder on his left. She was not in custody, she just had to make her deposition, as she was the one bringing back four missing women. Well, Grandma Lantam had explained that she had hired her to find her granddaughter, and Aislin had produced her license and her ID as soon as a Detective Clemons shown up and started asking questions. Thanks God, this time there was no question she couldn't (or wouldn't) answer. A nice change of pace regarding her last 10 months in New York.

Ash smiled to Clemons.

"Rose, Aislin Rose, born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1985." She sighed. "Could I have an aspirin, and a coffee with a lot of sugar… or a donut. Or just the box of sugar?"

The detective blinked at her and she sighed.

"I'll survive," she mumbled as Clemons reviewed his notes again.

"So, you've followed a man to the docks and?"

"And that's where I saw them pushing the women in a container and yelling at them. And then…"

"Somebody in black just showed up and beat them, that's right?"

"Yep."

"Did you talk to him?"

"Nope". She didn't even blink as she lied. Having talked to him was a way to be in a lot more troubles than she had right now.

"And?"

"He yelled at us, the girls freaked out, I reached them and escorted them to the police station."

"Nothing else?"

Ash hummed and sighed again. "Man in black beat the shit out of the guy who tried to shoot him twice."

"Barrett…. The guy's name is Turk Barrett, and he's in the hospital right now. You think you could identify him?" Well, against all odds, the guy was still alive.

"Who, the man in black? He wears some sort of mask on his…"

Clemons sighed and Ash stopped talking. "Oh… Barret? Yep, I can. I've had a pretty clear sight of him when he pointed his gun at my face."

There was a silence and Clemons closed his notebook.

"Thanks for your help Miss Rose. We'll call you when Barrett will be cleared off the hospital. Until then…"

"I stay at your disposal. I know the tune."

Clemons smiled at her as she stood up. She frowned.

"Yes, I've had this impression. You were the young woman who helped last year with the child case, aren't you?"

Ash froze. Well, her name had probably made his way through most of the Police Stations of the city. Probably with a note saying "crazy chick, be careful." She rolled her eyes.

"Yep, was me. Doing my job."

The smile the detective gave her was soft, it surprised her. Police officers tended to dislike her kind.

"Just try to avoid unnecessary attention and vigilantes."

"Wait… does that mean…" Clemons gently drove her to the door, then the hallway and shook her hand with a warm smile.

"Try to stay out of troubles Miss Rose. It's just an advice. Deckard? She's clear!"

And he left her. Aislin blinked and closed her still extended hand. The confusion on her face made the officer behind his desk snorted. She sighed and exited the precinct.

It had been a long day and a long night. She needed an aspirin, sugar and sleep. She'd let the questions for tomorrow.

 **XXX**

And this is how, children, the Little Girl met the Devil. Well, at the time, the Little Girl was no more the Little Girl, and the Devil was not yet the Devil. But hey, the thought was here. So, this is how they met. Each of them thought it was a one encounter, two people doing more or less the same thing bumping on each other while at work. Time would prove them they were wrong, but it's another story. Well, it's the next chapter in fact.

Anyway, the Little Girl and the Devil should have drunk water and taken a shower as soon as possible, because when they finally reached their respective home it was too late, and they just had the strength to collapse on their respective beds and fall asleep. And the next morning they really regretted it because every molecule in their body was screaming in pain and exertion, and the first words they said, unknowing they also have that in common, were:

"Please, one more minute…"


End file.
